The CEDR Commission on Settlement in International Arbitration

On 26 November 2009, CEDR held the first conference to focus entirely on settlement in International Arbitration, to mark the end of the CEDR Commission on International Arbitration’s consultation on new Rules to encourage settlement in international Arbitration. Drawing speakers and delegates from across the globe, this event was an opportunity for those within the arbitration community to share their thoughts and opinions on what has been described as "a very important initiative", and to launch the final report.

Chaired by Lord Woolf, the conference attracted 100 delegates from Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuwait, Republic of Ireland, South America, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The conference explored the theme of settlement from a variety of perspectives including the arbitrator's view, the arbitral institutions’ opinion, thoughts from Corporate Counsel, the views of External Counsel and the views from different cultural perspectives.

Background to the Commission

The CEDR Commission formed in 2007 were tasked with reviewing current practice regarding the facilitation of settlement by international arbitral tribunals and to come up with recommendations to improve this aspect of the process for end-users. The Commission is comprised of many of the world’s foremost international arbitrators, has links to most significant arbitration bodies and was co-chaired by Lord Woolf of Barnes and Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler, with Dr Karl Mackie, CEDR’s Chief Executive as Commission Director.

The purpose

The purpose of the Rules and Recommendations set out in the Commission’s Report has been to provide a selection of tools, which can be used by all of the different participants in international arbitration proceedings. These tools are all designed to increase the prospects of parties to the proceedings being able to settle their disputes without the need to proceed through to the conclusion of arbitral proceedings.

The process

In 2007, the first meeting of the CEDR Commission on Settlement in International Arbitration took place in London, with over 25 international jurisdictions represented. This inaugural meeting brought together leading international arbitrators, mediators, academics and counsel from different jurisdictions who were supported by a select group of rapporteurs responsible for research, drafting the early discussion paper and the final report. At this initial meeting, Co-Chairs Lord Woolf of Barnes and Professor Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler set out the Commission's role to investigate approaches to settlement within the framework of international arbitration. Later that year, the Commission, announced the names of the leading 45 consulting ADR organisations who would be contacted to input into the research that would help determine its findings in the coming year.

In early 2009, CEDR published a draft Report and Rules and entered the final consultation phase which lasted until 31 August 2009, in which CEDR sought comment from the international arbitration community.

Throughout the process, CEDR conducted a series of international consultation meetings to discuss the ideas and issues raised by these documents, and welcomed the views and further dialogue on these questions as well as on the main body of the Report and Rules previously circulated. The consultation also included a series of seminars in a number of key venues around the world. The final Report was designed to include best practice tools and draft rules for use by arbitrators and arbitral bodies in their future dispute resolution work.

The conclusion

The new CEDR Rules represent a new stage in refining a “safe transnational standard” for arbitrators, advisers, and others to adopt in encouraging settlement in international arbitration.